Norv Turner may be the most uncontroversial controversial football coach in history. And yet so much has been written, said, tweeted, blogged, graffitied, tattooed and skywritten about him, it’s easy to believe our X-ray vision has missed some deep, dark hole inside of The Norv.

It would be fun if we could get a federal grant and send a team of psychological spelunkers down his throat to find the real Norv Turner. But it also would be a waste of time. Maybe he isn’t a great head coach, because great head coaches do great things and he certainly hasn’t, but he’s not a soft cone.

He is what he is, and one thing he does as well if not better than anyone is see the battlefield in front of him and adjust. And if you think all coaches can do this, well, here is one reason why so many of them are fired. Turner can find a calm spot in the storm.

There were some things I didn’t like the taste of in the strange goulash that was the Chargers’ 24-17 victory Sunday over Minnesota, but what I enjoyed most was Norv’s ability to adjust after being smashed in the chops while the ref was introducing the two fighters. It may have been the most impressive 59-plus minutes of coaching he’s done here. It was unique, a terribly difficult game to manage.

Seconds into it, Norv’s special teams not only had allowed Percy Harvin to serpentine 103 yards with the opening kickoff, but kicker Nate Kaeding, the most accurate in-season booter ever, tore knee ligaments while whiffing at Harvin and was lost for the game (and the season).

Chargers special teams once again had imploded. A blow. Kaeding was gone (it’s called football for a reason). Bigger blow. Instead of scrambling, Turner, who calls all offensive plays, found his patient side, feeling his way through the blackout with short, safe stuff until, despite a 17-7 deficit, the lights of halftime came on.

There Turner and his staff quickly determined what the Vikings were doing defensively — bringing constant pressure — wasn’t going to change (and it didn’t). Keep blitzing Norv and he’ll eventually get you. He did.

And while he didn’t know what his emergency kicker, punter Mike Scifres, was capable of in the first half — forcing him to forgo field goal tries when in range during the first 30 minutes — by the end of intermission, he knew.

“It’s a very short period of time,” Turner was saying Monday. “The guys upstairs and on the sideline compile information. What are we doing? What are they doing? We get together and it takes 4-to-5 minutes. Then we get with the players. It takes 4-to-5 minutes. And that’s it.”

That’s it.

So Greg Manusky’s defense held the Vikings to 26 second-half yards (187 total). Donovan McNabb passed for 2 yards after the break (39 total). Scifres, his coach more confident, kicked a 40-yard field goal. Mike Tolbert scored two more touchdowns. They won. The adjustments worked.

And, no matter what you think of kickers, more often than not, they win or lose games. When available, coaches use them — rather than go for it on fourth-and-20 from the other guys’ 25, which Norv was forced to do Sunday. Their points count.

“With Nate, we could have had 16 points at halftime,” Turner lamented.

The obvious bad was allowing Harvin to get Minnesota a touchdown 15 seconds into the thing. I had been warned by one football man before the season began that there were going to be some big returns early in the NFL season because of rules changes and the lockout. And there were a lot of them over the weekend. Not that it gives the Chargers’ encore slapstick routine an excuse.

“Thursday night, I watched the last two Super Bowl winners (Green Bay and New Orleans) give up a 108-yard kickoff return and an 88-yard punt return,” Turner said. “It’s part of football. I believe we have helped ourselves. There are some adjustments that still have to be made, but I have confidence in our kicking game.”

Forgive me if I’m from Missouri on that one. When the Chargers stop this foolish hemorrhaging, then I’ll believe it.

Meanwhile, the defense was fine in all phases, ganging up on tailback Adrian Peterson. New inside linebackers Takeo Spikes and Donald Butler had strong games. Outside linebacker Shaun Phillips harassed.

Complainers have chastised Norv for not having quarterback Philip Rivers seek $11-million wideout Vincent Jackson more often (he missed the wide open receiver for a sure touchdown). But the Vikes were blitzing. Norv, maybe the best there is with quarterback protection, ordered more of it at halftime. Mostly short stuff was the order of the day.

They took what they were given. They took home a win. Go ahead and rip Norv. Waste of breath and electricity, and we must conserve the latter.